Changing Sides
by J.S.Mallory
Summary: An officer with Lone Star seeks answers when his life is thrown upside down by the underworld of Seattle.


Changing Sides

_**Changing Sides**_

"_Beware the man with nothing, for he has nothing to lose_."

"What are we looking at?" Luc asked, as he finished strapping on a bulletproof vest. His dark eyes swept the landscape to try and take everything in. Lone Star's Seattle Division was surrounding a derelict old house on the eastern outskirts of the downtown core. The locals were hunkered down in their homes, knowing that these situations typically ended messily. He rubbed the dark stubble that lined his jaw, save for a line where no hair grew, thanks to a heavy scar inflicted by a suspect some years ago. It was the only blemish to his otherwise handsome features. An HTRT had shown up, which told Luc one thing: shadowrunners. He ran his hand through his black hair and forcefully exhaled. This would not be a good night.

"Last report says we have three hostiles inside, at least one of them is Awakened. All heavily armed," Murdoch said with the deadpan of a man who'd seen this scenario all too often.

"What'd they do this time around?"

"No specifics coming from anyone. All we know is that one of our boys tried to pull them over for speeding and they started shooting. They managed to plant a tracer on their vehicle before pursuit was called off. And here we are."

"If the high-threat boys are here, why do you need me?" Luc asked.

"Their mage is going in with the team to subdue any magical threats. Your job is to go around back with a group of officers and lay down a net to make sure no one slips away in the carnage. You armed?"

Luc drew his Ruger Thunderbolt and nodded. "Whenever you give the word."

"Consider it given. The team's going in from both sides any minute."

Luc motioned to a cluster of officers. "You guys are with me. Just let me provide us with some cover." The Lone Star mage bowed his eyes and muttered a few words of prayer in Arabic; a modern version of Persian scripture. A faint voice spoke within his mind.

_"What is my purpose, magus?"_

"To conceal us from evil-doers who wish us harm," he replied, shifting his perceptions to the astral plane.

A point of astral light blossomed before him and transformed into an ahura, a Zoroastrian angel. _"I shall serve you, child of Ahura Mazda, and shield you from evil."_

The spirit curved its wings around the group of officers and they vanished from sight.

"All right, use your commlinks to trace each other's movements. We're circling around the back."

The invisible group of officers crept around the back of the house, where one of the HTRT strike teams was readying themselves to bash down the door. One cop fired a gas grenade in through a window and waited for the grenade to detonate before slamming the battering ram through the door and pouring into the house.

A flurry of comms chatter flooded over the airwaves as the police frantically relayed tactical information about the house just before gunfire erupted. Muzzle flash and the painful cry of officers echoed in Luc's ears. "Officers down, I repeat, we have officers down!"

"Combat medics are on standby. Clear out the ground floor of hostiles and we will tend to the wounded."

"One suspect is down. The other is retreating upstairs. We are proceeding with caution."

Gunfire continued, as the Lone Star response team pushed their way up the stairs to the upper floors.

"Second suspect is down. Tracking the third…"

A blast erupted from the upper floor as a fireball blasted out the window. The team of officers in the rear moved aside as the charred bodies of two officers fell to the lawn, thrown out by the attack.

"Mage sight! We have confirmed mage sight!"

Luc went over to the fallen officers and saw the tattered remains of a gold banner on one of the men's shoulder. "Murdoch, this is Sharif. The HTRT mage is dead. What do you want me to do?"

"Our boys need back up…the mage is pulverizing them. Get in there!"

Turning back to the rest of the officers, he said, "Don't let anyone through this door. Switch to ultrasound, in case this guy goes invisible."

Luc charged into the house, seeing the medics tending to the wounded and the corpse of one of the runners, lying eyes wide in an expanding pool of blood. He stealthily made his way toward the stairs and crept upwards, his pistol drawn and held out in front of him. He saw an officer lying on the stairs with lesions on his face and a thin tendril of blood rolling away from the eyes; a sign of mana damage.

"The level of magic I'm seeing in the wounded shows someone of either extreme power, or a possible focus addict," Luc said subvocally over the police channel.

"Copy that. Just be on your guard."

He finally reached the top of the stairs and saw the walls were heavily scorched and the bodies of fellow officers lay at the center of the impact. He could hear other officers muttering nonsensically in another part of the house, probably in the clutch of a confusion spell of some form.

He heard gunfire beneath him as the medics were suddenly under attack. "Fire spirit! Hey, Sharif… we could use your imaginary friend down here…" one man said frantically.

Luc telepathically spoke to his spirit. "I require your aid. Doctors are under attack by an enemy spirit. Please deal with it."

The spirit materialized in front of him and spawned an enormous sword. _"As you command, magus."_

The spirit dropped down through the floor and the gunfire stopped as the two spirits became engrossed in their own battle. He stepped forward to try and aid the officers in the grips of an illusion, when the floor groaned loudly under his weight. He winced as his location was betrayed and the runner mage flew out of a nearby doorframe.

The runner was hyperactive, his eyes practically bulging from their sockets and he was draped in foci. His bloodshot eyes settled on Luc and he quickly launched a blast of flame toward the officer. Raising his off hand in defense, Luc blocked the spell only inches away from impact.

It was soon apparent that this mage had tweaked his spell formula to make his flame attack sustainable, rather than a single shot and he held the blast of fire on the cop with a psychotic grin on his face.

"I can keep this up all day, pig! Can you?"

Luc felt a blood vessel in his nose pop and the warm stickiness of blood ran freely down his upper lip. He couldn't block this attack indefinitely. "No, I can't. But, I can multi-task…" He raised his Thunderbolt and squeezed the trigger, blasting the enemy mage with a cluster of bullets. He yelped in pain as the bullets struck him on the hip, shattering his pelvic bone and wrenching him sideways. The spell the runner was concentrating on collapsed and Luc shook his head to clear the ringing that had begun in his ears.

The runner began yelling incoherently, strung out from whatever drugs he was on, and he cast a healing spell to repair the damage. He wasn't far into the spell when one of the officers came out from one of the rooms, after shaking off the confusion, and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the runner's head. The addict mage finally lapsed into unconsciousness and fell to the ground.

"Goddammit, I hate mages…" the cop said, before sheepishly looking at Luc. "Present company excluded, of course."

Luc simply nodded and leaned heavily against a nearby wall. The officers that survived the attack began going over the house and removing the corpses of the runners. The mage was mage-masked and handcuffed before being roughly dragged off to jail. As one of the runner's bodies was carried out, Luc heard something fall not far from where he was recovering. Something had fallen out of a pocket of the dead man. After searching for a short while, he found the small glass cylinder of an optical chip.

"Is this what they stole?" he thought aloud. He popped the chip into his commlink and tried to open it. The file was heavily encrypted, but the runner had succeeded in decrypting some of it. A garbled mess of indecipherable icons popped up, but there was some data there: a list of disjointed names and numbers.

"What did you find?"

Luc looked up and saw Rick, his usual partner making his way up the stairs. "One of our dead runners dropped this. Not sure what the hell it is though. The encryption on it appears pretty thick…my commlink can't even properly render this thing."

"It must be pretty important for these assholes to want to die for it. I'll send it over to Jeremy and see if he can't figure out who it belongs to and what we're dealing with. In the meantime, go home. You look like shit."

Absently wiping the blood away from his nose, Luc looked up at his partner and smirked. "Gee, thanks. I'll catch you tomorrow."

He patted Rick on the shoulder before heading out of the house and getting a lift home from one of his coworkers.

Two weeks later

"Oh, come on…" Lexi said, "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? Our backyard is a glorified sandbox already. If we add a patio onto the back, there won't be any grass left." Luc returned.

"Like we have grass to begin with…that's why I'm thinking about a patio. Anything will make that patch of dirt look better. You just don't want to do the work on it."

"Can't dispute that one," Luc said with a smile.

"Lazy bum," his wife chided, with a smirk.

The Lone Star officer peered over his shoulder to look at his sleeping daughter in the back seat. She was lolled over to one side, her curly brown locks dangling off her shoulders. The green eyes she had inherited from her mother were closed tight. Savannah had been a bit unruly, but overall had behaved well enough while they had shopped at the local home improvement place. As a reward, they had gone to McHughs for dinner, before picking up a few groceries on the way back. At long last, she had spun down and finally fallen asleep.

"She out?" Lexi asked.

"Out like a light," he said. "After the day she's had, she should sleep well tonight."

"What do you feel like doing tonight? I don't think there's anything on the trid worth watching…"

"I was thinking about some wine, low lighting and an absence of clothing might fit the bill."

"Luc! Savannah's in the car…"

"And she is totally unconscious. So, is that a no?"

"I didn't say that…" she said, playfully. "Let's get this stuff home and the little one to bed before we get too far forward in our thinking."

Luc looked over at his wife. She was perfect, at least for him. She wasn't as curvy as many men liked their women, but her smile lit up her face and her eyes were a dark shade of emerald that had captivated him the moment he first looked into them. Her blond-brown hair shrouded her face. Her hair style was simple, but he liked it that way. Savannah's curl had come from him (his hair was naturally wavy, but Lone Star dictated he keep it short, so he hid it well), but her colour was a middle-of-the-road shade between the two of them. She knew his job was dangerous but approached every day with a smile and was always happy when he came home. His marriage was blessed and he knew it.

The old Ford pulled into the driveway and as the commlinks of the owners drew close, the outside lights turned on and the hologram popped up on Luc's projector, prompting him to disable the house alarm. He keyed in the passkey before minimizing the frame and having the car open the trunk.

"I'll take Savannah upstairs to bed and you grab the groceries, all right?" Lexi asked.

"Sounds fair to me. The kid weighs a ton," he said, making his way around the back of the car.

"So do all those bags and I only have to make one trip," she said in victory. She scooped up the sleeping girl and turned to Luc. "See you inside, with the wine all set."

He smiled as he started gathering up the grocery bags. She hadn't been kidding when she said they were heavy. He had tried to gather them all up so he wouldn't have to come back, but ultimately, he decided he couldn't do it in fewer than two trips.

Cradling the bags in his arms he slowly walked to the front door of the house and used his left foot to push the door open.

"It's no wonder I'm putting on weight if the food weighs so…"

A wall of flame burst outward from the house, tossing Luc across his front yard as if he weighed nothing. Groceries sprayed across the lawn, several items burning from the blast. He landed hard on his back, dazed and burning, staring up at the stars above. He was oblivious to the pain at first, but as the world came back into focus, the pain from the burns hit him like a freight train. He tried to sit up but his seared skin tore as he tried to make it bend, causing an involuntary scream of pain. The smell of his own burning hair and flesh seemed distant, as he tried to shake off his disorientation.

He let out a guttural inarticulate scream, as he fought his way to his feet. His neighbours began to gather in the street, gazing awestruck by the sight of Luc's house engulfed in flames. "Lexi!" he bellowed, as he began moving toward the house. "Savannah!"

A secondary blast ripped through the house, as something combustible caught the blaze and burst. "Lexi!" Luc charged toward the house before colliding somewhat painfully with Henry, one of his neighbours. "Let me go! You have to help me!"

"I am, Luc. You go in there and you'll die."

"Lexi and Savannah are inside. I have to get them out of there."

"There's nothing left in there for you to rescue. I'm sorry…"

"No!" Luc screamed at the fire. The pain reasserted itself and the officer passed out as Henry pulled him away from the collapsing husk of his home.

Eighteen Days after the fire

"Welcome back, sunshine," Murphy said, as he strode into Luc's hospital room. "How are you feeling?"

At first, there was no response, but eventually Luc replied, "I'm itchy." After the fire, he had slipped into a catatonic state that wasn't quite a coma, but it was enough to place him on feeding tubes and bedpans. He had undergone reconstructive surgery, which had replaced much of the damaged skin, but he still had extensive burn scars up his left side; the side that took the first blast from the house. He lay in traction, wrapped in bandages and unable to really move while the skin grafts took hold.

"That's to be expected, I suppose. You're fuckin' lucky, you know?"

Luc snorted. "Lucky? You have a strange definition of luck, Murph. So, are you the official liaison for Lone Star, come to check on me?"

"Nope. They'll be showing up a little later, when you're closer to checking out."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Murphy dropped his jovial attitude and studied the floor briefly before looking back up at his comrade. "I, uh…I figured you would have some questions and I know the shrink they'll be sending out to check on you will dodge the answers. I figured you deserved better."

Luc wanted to nod his thanks, but the effort made him wince. "How's the investigation going?"

"To be honest, it's stalled. There was nothing left after the explosion…no evidence to go on. We know it was a pro job…audio detonators rigged through your own security system to several charges all around the house. Plastic explosive at key architectural positions…whoever did this was well trained."

"Wait…audio detonators? It was triggered by a voice command?"

"Not so much, as it was trained to recognize a specific voice…probably yours."

"So, when I called into the house to Lexi, I…"

"Triggered it? Yeah…probably."

Luc clenched his eyes shut and berated himself for not kept his smartass comment for later. At least if he was inside the house when he had spoken, he wouldn't be here, alone.

"When's the funeral?" he asked, through clenched teeth.

"Whenever you're ready. The company's paying for it, of course."

"Hang on a second…" Luc said, his eyes working away, as he mulled over details, "If there was no evidence left over, how do you know my voice triggered the bomb?"

"An educated guess, given what else has been happening."

"What's happened?"

"We've lost a few good men while you were out," Murphy said with sadness.

"What? Who?"

"Jeremy in our computer division met with a nasty hacker during a simple overwatch job and got brain-fried. Rick was targeted by a drive-by and was gunned down in his own driveway."

"They killed my partner too?" Luc clenched his hands, despite the pain it caused. The pain rapidly subsided, as the machines wired to him detected the pain and injected a liberal dose of pain medication.

"We went back to the site of that runner job you were last involved in and found that someone had been in there and had removed some hardware from the scene after the shoot-out. There were cameras implanted in the fixtures of that house. One camera saw you and Rick going over the contents of a chip you pulled off one of the runners."

"I remember that…Jeremy's name was dropped too," Luc muttered as realization dawned on him.

"Exactly. To top it off, the chip was moved to our computer processing center and the police convoy was attacked by well-armed thugs. Guess what was taken."

"Dammit…"

"Whatever was on that chip was enough for the owner to contract out on the lives of all witnesses. In your case, they missed. We've got you entered in here under a pseudonym to prevent another attack on your life. Unfortunately, with the chip gone and everyone who has seen it dead, we have no leads."

"What about the runner I took prisoner?"

"He was too unstable to keep in captivity and you know company policy on unregistered mages without a SIN, right?"

"Shit. They aren't dropping the case, right?"

"Of course not. They never give up on their brothers. But don't expect a fast response on this. The trail's gone cold."

Luc nodded slightly as the pain killers kicked in and a light-headed euphoria took hold.

"Listen Luc, I'll let you get some rest. I'll catch up with you when you're out of here. If anything comes up, I'll let you know."

Murph looked down and the borderline-unconscious man in the bed and shook his head sadly. There would be a lot of emotional rehabilitation required to get him back into service and making a man wait to learn about who was responsible for an atrocity would not go over well.

One month after the fire

Luc stormed into the Lone Star precinct and headed straight for the captain's office. Several of his colleagues looked up and were ready to applaud his return when they saw the look on his face. Instead they turn back to their work and cautiously glanced over their shoulder toward the angry mage.

He threw the door open and stepped inside the chief's office. "What the hell is this I hear about my case being shelved?"

"Welcome back, Luc," the chief said, ignoring the outburst.

"I was told that the company didn't turn their back on their brothers. So much for camaraderie, huh?"

"Close the door and sit down," the chief ordered. The mage threw the door closed but remained on his feet. "Good enough. You think you're the only one who wants answers? Your family, Rick's family and Jeremy's family all want answers. And you know what we've dug up since this shit hit the fan? Absolutely nothing. We cannot devote as many resources to this as we have been. Too much happens in this city on a daily basis. It's not like we're putting this in a box and shoving it into a corner. We simply have to lower its priority, so that the daily business of protecting Seattle can get done."

"Then assign the case to me. I'll take care of it. Call it a special assignment, if you want."

"You know the company policy on personal involvement. You are at the crux of this case and your judgment will be clouded. I can't assign the case to you and you know it."

"I don't give a shit about company policy! Give me the case."

The chief carefully studied Luc momentarily. "Did you ever meet with our prescribed grief counselor?"

"I don't need a goddamn counselor, I need results."

"I disagree… you can't return to duty until the psychologist okays you and deems you mentally fit for duty. Nothing will happen for you until that happens."

Luc glared at the chief. "You're going to prevent me from looking into my own wife's killer?!"

"Jesus, Luc…how many times do I have to spell this out for you? I'm bound by compa-"

"Company policy…you know what? This is what I think about your 'company policy'." Luc reached into his pocket and placed his badge on the chief's desk. "If Lone Star isn't going to do the right thing, then I'll do it myself."

"Now hold on, Luc. Don't do anything rash…"

The chief never got to finish his sentence, as the mage turned on his heel and fled the precinct in anger. The chief slumped in his seat and looked toward the door. "Good luck, Luc."

"C'mon! Higher, Daddy!"

Luc smiled as he pushed Savannah on a swing in the playground. He loved Georgia this time of year. The scent of peach blossoms was in the air and the pounding of the waves of the ocean could be heard at the beach not far away. "Your mother will freak out if you go much higher."

"Please?" Savannah pleaded, her curly brown hair swaying in the wind and green eyes wide in the 'puppy dog' look.

"You're high enough, sweetie," Lexi said from a patch of grass not far from the playground. She was in the process of arraying a picnic before they went down to the beach to look for sea shells. "Besides, lunch is almost ready and I don't want you up there all afternoon."

Luc kept his daughter's momentum going long enough for the picnic to be dished out. He then slowed her swinging so she could hop down, only to be snatched up and placed on her Dad's shoulders.

"Run Daddy!"

"Run for a half dozen steps?"

"Yeah!"

Shrugging, he ran over to the picnic with Savannah giggling the whole way. He scooped her up under the arms and swung her down for a 'crash landing' on the blanket. Luc sat down beside Lexi and surveyed the spread. "Prepare enough food, you think?"

"You know how picky the munchkin is. I made something for each mood."

"You cater to her too much," he said, shaking his head. He smirked at her when she stuck her tongue out him and proceeded to help himself to the food laid out.

The three ate in relative silence, enjoying the sun, the ocean breeze and the good food. The second Savannah was done, she sprang to her feet. "Can I go play some more?"

"You just ate! Just let your food settle before you go running off again," Lexi said.

"I dunno, maybe some quiet time for the two of us is just what the doctor ordered…" Luc said with a wink.

Lexi responded with a swat to his shoulder. "Don't get any ideas, mister."

"Too late."

"What are you guys talking about?" Savannah asked.

"Nothing, sweetie," Lexi said, with a glare directed to Luc.

"Do we pack up and make our way to the beach?" he asked.

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea."

The family packed all their belongings back into the cooler they had carried everything in and began the walk toward the ocean.

"I'm glad you suggested this place," Luc said. "It's fantastic." He ran a hand across her cheek and felt her soft skin and brown hair brush over his hand. He leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips, feeling the waxy feeling and smelling the slightly sugary smell of her lip gloss.

"You're welcome," she said, fixing her green eyes on his.

"That's gross," Savannah said, sticking out her tongue. "Can we go swimming now?"

"Sure thing. Let's go," he said.

"Yay!"

As they began walking to the beach, a bright green box spontaneously appeared in front of him.

_Visitor at the door. Commcode registered as: Donna. Open Door?_

Sighing, Luc said, "Pause playback." The beach of Georgia, his wife and daughter faded away to nothing, as the basic grid of his commlink filled his vision. He disconnected from the sim module, wiped away the tears he hadn't been aware he'd shed and stabbed the open door button.

The door to his ramshackle apartment unlocked and Donna strode in. She was the chief's secretary and the two had been good friends while he was on the force. Now he was using what little money he had to investigate the death of his family, but she was also keeping him apprised of the Star's progress.

"Nice décor…" Donna said, as she surveyed his lackluster living accommodations. When she studied her former teammate, his eyes were cold and detached, he had let his normal five o'clock shadow escalate to a raised stubble and his hair was now shoulder length, showing off its natural wave.

"Have they made any progress?" Luc asked.

"No, and now that you're no longer with the Star, it's a lower priority. You're just a citizen, rather than a company matter."

"I fucking hate corporate politics," he spat.

"I'm keeping tabs on Rick's and Jeremy's cases, since they will lead back to the same perps."

"Thanks, Donna,"

"How's the private investigation going?"

"It's not," he said dejectedly, "I'm going to be spending more time investigating other people's problems, just to keep a roof over my head."

"That's what happens when you act rashly. You're in over your head."

"I can't go back to the Star. The red tape will prevent me from ever learning anything."

Donna shrugged. "Sorry I can't be of more help." Her eyes wandered over to a desk that was littered in paperwork. On a corner of the desk were a pile of slap patches. Some were used, but some were brand new. The new ones were labeled as pain killers; fairly potent ones. "Are you still having pain from the blast?"

"Some days," he said. "It comes and goes."

"I thought the doctors said everything was healed and you wouldn't have any more pain. Just the scar."

"Well, he lied," he said, wincing and clutching his side.

"I see…"

"Unless you have any ideas on how I can learn more information, I'd better get back to work, Donna."

She silently turned away and walked back toward the door. As she got to the door, she paused and looked back at Luc.

"What now?" Luc asked.

"There may be a way to do your own investigation and make money at the same time…"

"Really? How's that?"

She walked back into the room and lowered her voice. "You aren't going to like it."

"I don't like the way things are already, so why don't you just tell me?"

"Become a shadowrunner."

"What?! The people that kill officers every day and mindlessly kill innocent people… you want me to join them?"

"Not all runners are like you describe. The good ones never dirty their hands with killing unless they must. You know first hand how resourceful the shadowrunners are. Those responsible for the death of your wife and daughter live in the shadows. That much is certain. You simply need to infiltrate their world, find the triggermen and through them, learn who ordered the hit. The side of the law can only dig so far. You need to look at it from the lawless side. You can also make some money along the way…maybe hurt those corps you hate so bad a little bit."

Luc was about to dismiss the idea outright, but Donna had a point. Those who knew this kind of person best where the kind the Star couldn't track. Perhaps he could make the difference by attacking the shadows from within. Justice, his own way.

The way it should be.

"I'll think about it," he said and looked up at Donna. He smirked, "How are you just the chief's secretary? You're pretty good at this."

"Hey, I listen to what goes on in the precinct and the limits they face. They already have some undercover guys in the shadows, but a lot of them go through Stockholm Syndrome, so they minimize the influence the underworld has, by making assignments short. This could be as long term as you need it to be."

"Thanks again, Donna."

"Don't mention it. It's good to see you smile again, even if only briefly." Donna walked to the door and glanced back. "If you do this, don't get in too deep. Always remember which side of the fence you stand on. We're the good guys, no matter how justified your work in the shadows would seem. I'll send you contact information for a known fixer to get you started."

"How do you have contact information for someone in the shadows?"

"Trade secret," Donna said. "He's a stand up guy and has connections across North America. He should get you started on your search."

Luc couldn't say anything more, prior to Donna stepping through the door and leaving him to plan for his future. Before he could focus on his entry to the shadows, he had a beach to visit.

He sat back in his chair, activated his commlink and pressed resume.


End file.
